"Don’t be scared, I can’t hurt you, see? I don’t have any weapons."
"…Are…are you…af-afraid…of…me?"
"I doubt I’ll be scared if I can see you better, your shadow is much more frightening."
"…You…want to see me, then?"
"No, I want to see the wall behind you, of course I want to see you!"
"Very…well, then…"
The creature stepped out of the shadows to reveal, a young man, well, almost. He looked about Andomiel’s age, but much slender, and inherently more powerful-looking. His features looked human enough, except for a few slight details. He had large claws for hands and feet, and a massively spanning pair of dragon-like wings.
Andomiel didn’t seem shocked in the least, then again, he never seemed shocked.
"Well, what’s your name?"
"My…name…that my ancestors gave me before my birth was…Fenris."
"Fenris, huh? Well my name is Andomiel, and I think we’d better make sure Pharda knows you’re friendly before--,"
"AH-HAH! Found you! Just before you were about to suck the life out of my friend Andy eh? Well, now you’ll have to suffer the consequences for messing with one of Pharda Beolve’s friends!!" And with that, Pharda did an expert dive off the top of the staircase directly on Fenris’ back, causing the winged person to fly in a panic.
"Let go of him, Pharda! He’s a good guy!" Andomiel yelled.
"…Sure…unh…coulda…ack…fooled…me…ahhh!" Pharda said as he struggled to hang on to the bucking half-dragon.
"Look out, Pharda!" Urd shouted just as the pair of Fenris and Pharda collided with a wall with a loud thump.
"Oooooh, too late!!" Andomiel winced.
"……Ow…that’ll hurt for a while…" Pharda rubbed his head ruefully.
"S’okay, thought you were a fiend, I am Samurai Pharda Beolve, and this is my group of allies, Andomiel the Paladin, and Urd the Thief. So what are you anyway?"
"I don’t think even I know for sure…probably a cross between a dragon and a human, a freak to be sure, I don’t know why you’re even still talking with me."
Suddenly Pharda had a wild gleam in his eye as if remembering some old legend his ancestors had passed down.
"Uh-oh, he’s got that look in his eye…" Andomiel gulped.
"You know what you are…friend (what is your name?)…you’re a Dragoon, a Dragon Knight, spoken of thousands of years ago by ancient prophets, a great legendary warrior. Just like my ancestors. This is sooo cool! And I, as neophyte of my honored warrior lineage would be twice honored to have you join us."
Fenris went wide eyed, "…my…name’s Fenris, and whatever you just said, I guess that’s what I am…I hope the lady doesn’t mind my company…"
Urd squint with one eye, "Who’s a lady? I’m just a friend, and nothin’ scares me, not even a dragon-boy with fire breath!"
Fenris flushed red, Andomiel sighed, Urd humphed, and Pharda was clueless.
Pharda finally spoke up, "Then it’s settled then, we meet back at my house for a meal fit for kings!"
Andomiel yet again sighed and spoke to Pharda aside, ("Man, you really need to cut back on those J.R.R. Tolkien books, you’re acting the part way too much!")
Urd also spoke to Andomiel aside, ("If you ask me, Pharda would camp out at a Renaissance Fair and think it was home…")
"Look at the bright side, at least we get a free meal…" Fenris said optimistically, albeit uninformed.
The four trudged back down the road they came from New Alexandria, to find a world they had only recently begun to know and love as home…was gone.
